


Please, I Need You

by Grimm_Marshmello



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crying, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, One Shot, Qrow Branwen Needs a Hug, Ruby Rose (RWBY) Needs a Hug, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:33:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23207185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grimm_Marshmello/pseuds/Grimm_Marshmello
Summary: Ruby knows her uncle wants the best for all of them and tries to protect them but it hurts her. It hurts her to see him wasting away in the mourning of his lost purpose. He may hold her hand in one of his, but there’s always a flask in the other.OrRuby confronts Qrow about his drinking the night they spend at the Brunswick farm after Ozpin’s secrets are revealed and Qrow realizes even a fearless leader needs someone to lean on.Set during Season 6 Episode 6 “Alone in the Woods”
Kudos: 38





	Please, I Need You

**Author's Note:**

> Um, I'm not quite sure what to write here. This is my first fic and I'm testing the waters.

With all her friends settled uneasily in the living room of the Brunswick House, Ruby Rose resigned herself to sit on the stairs, hiding the cracks in her happy mask. 

She chewed her bottom lip, staring at nothing as she went over the events of the day in her mind. She was tired, and she wanted a break. 

‘ _You’re the leader, Ruby. You can’t take a break!’_ her mind retorted. _‘Don’t start throwing your responsibility on others because you’re too weak to handle it_.’

She squeezed her kneecaps, biting back salty tears that attempted to escape. She leaned around the wall to check on her friends once more before standing up to go talk to her uncle.

Qrow lounged back in a wooden chair by a window, looking out on the white world. 

Ruby approached him quietly, taking a moment to observe the snow-blanketed farm with him.

“Storms cleared up for now, we should be able to leave by morning,” he reported bluntly. He still didn't look at her.

“That’s good,” Ruby said, holding her arm for comfort.

“No,” Ruby blinked, “I don’t have a good feeling about this place… especially with me around.”

Ruby’s gaze followed his arm down to the large, dark, mostly empty bottle of unnamed alcohol. Her uncle’s face was a stone slate–unreadable–but the hatred in his voice was clear as day. She had been keeping an eye on him for a while now, making sure he was okay, or relatively okay at least. He was getting worse again, the worst he had been since her mom died. She couldn’t go through that again.

Ruby steeled her nerves to ask, “Are you…okay?” She cursed herself silently for sounding hesitant.

Qrow let out a short, cynical laugh, “Sure,” he drawled. He picked up the bottle off the ground and took a swig, almost draining the rest of the contents. 

Ruby chewed her lip once more before speaking, “You don’t have to lie to me, Uncle Qrow,” she spoke softly, nothing more than a wispy echo of her voice.

This caught Qrow’s attention. Red eyes bore holes into Ruby’s skull, like he was searching her very soul for the reason behind her words. 

Unsure of what to say, he stayed silent and waited for her to continue.

“Ozpin’s secrets hurt all of us, but I know they hurt you most of all. I get that still trying to get to Atlas seems useless, but we can’t stop now. If there’s even a chance that something we are doing could lead us to a solution we don’t see right now, then we need to keep going.” Seeing her usually witty, snarky, pseudo confident uncle staring at her with dull, hopeless eyes stabbed pins through her heart.

Qrow simply shook his head, “You’ve been through so much, yet you still cling to your naive beliefs,” he raised the bottle to his lips. “Why don’t you get some rest, Kiddo. We can decide what to do in the morning.”

“No!” Ruby’s hand shot out and grabbed Qrow’s wrist, stopping him from drinking everything away. 

A fire raged behind her eyes, raged against her uncle for giving up, raged against the world for the doomsday-like-future, but most of all, raged against the foul-smelling drink that pulled her family away from her. Her lip quivered, pooling her silver eyes with unshed tears, but she kept her firm grip. 

“You can’t give up. We are going to Atlas, and nothing is changing that,” she took a second to collect her thoughts. “I am the leader of team RWBY, and it’s my job to get my team where we need to be. But I can’t do this alone…” Ruby ducked her head down as tears trailed down her face. 

Qrow stared at her while debating what to do. He was horrible with emotional support, but right now, Ruby needed someone. She needed him. He reached up and gently cupped her cheek, using his thumb to brush her tears away. 

She gasped at the touch. While melting into the warm, safe contact, her anger drained away like the substance in Qrow’s bottle, “Please, Uncle Qrow… I need you.” 

“Ruby, look at me,” he nudged her head up to meet his eyes, “I’m not leaving you, and as long I am alive, I never will.”

“You always do,” she protested. “You are right now.”

Qrow went wide-eyed, mouth opened like a fish, at a loss for words. The bottle in his hand bore a burning weight as if his actions had materialized in the damned bottle. He was so blind, he hadn’t even seen what was right in front of him. The little girl that used to run at him and hug his legs when he walked in the door was now a strong and formidable huntress. Sadly, it seemed that she had taken on some of his qualities he wished she hadn’t. She hid her feelings for the happiness of others, burying her trauma beneath a smile, much like he had with a drink. 

He had never liked the taste of alcohol, but it numbed the pain and allowed him to forget for just a little while. Lately, a little while had turned into less and less time and the more he drank, the less he felt he could forget, so he needed to drink more. It hadn’t occurred to him that his habits were pushing his family away. He loved Yang and Ruby like they were his own children. He never wanted to hurt them.

“Ruby… I don’t know if I can be what you need me to be,” his hand tightened around the neck of the bottle.

“It takes time and effort, but if you really want it, you can do it,” Ruby smiled, “Let’s help each other, Uncle Qrow. We’re not alone anymore.”

Ruby turned to walk away before tossing over her shoulder, “Get some sleep. Atlas is in our near future.”

Qrow watched her go, a spitting image of Summer, and leaned forward to rest his head on his hands.

‘ _I’m sorry Summer. I’ll try to do better.’_

For the first time in forever, Qrow Branwen cried, and that’s how Ruby would find him in the morning, slumped in a chair with tears tracks down his cheeks.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and please comment! I would love to hear all feedback. Let me know of any mistakes you found reading this or things you liked so I know for next time. 
> 
> If you really like my style I'm open to suggestions for prompts and ideas for future works in this fandom or others. I'll try to make future works longer too!
> 
> \- Mello


End file.
